Bijel Processing for the Synthesis of Co-continuous Electrochemical Composites with Tunable Microstructure

组成物相共连续排列的复合材料在电化学储能和转换方面具有很高的应用价值。特别是在电池中，同时最大化系统的存储容量和功率传输的需要要求电极由具有电化学活性的复合材料制成，该复合材料具有共同连续的形貌，可以根据其电化学功能(纳米到几十微米)的长度尺度进行调节。为此，拟议的计划将寻求开发一个新的平台，使用首席研究员S实验室最近开发的软物质模板技术来合成具有可调共连续微结构的块体电化学复合材料。这种方法将基于固体稳定乳液的自组装，这种乳液固有地具有可调的共连续微结构，以及随后它们不同相的化学转化。系统地研究了将这些共连续的软材料转化为电化学功能复合材料所需的工艺条件，并讨论了物理化学和工艺参数在控制其形态和电化学性能方面的基本作用。如果成功，拟议的计划将建立一种新的方法来设计符合设计标准的复合电极，使其能够通过独特的微结构实现高效存储和快速传递电化学能量。由于合成方案是基于多相混合物中的自组装，它使得这种材料可以很容易地在宏观尺寸上制备，具有在微观水平上可调的共连续形态。了解控制将这些软材料模板加工成共连续复合材料的基本参数也可以对其他各种应用产生重大影响，包括催化、组织工程、分离和多孔介质传输的基础研究。

Composite materials with co-continuous arrangement of their constituent phases are highly valuable for electrochemical energy storage and conversion. Particularly in batteries, the need to simultaneously maximize the storage capacity and power delivery of the system requires the electrodes to be made of electrochemically active composites with co-continuous morphology that is tunable at length scales relevant to their electrochemical function (nano- to tens of micrometers). To this end, the proposed program will seek to develop a new platform for the synthesis of bulk electrochemical composites with tunable co-continuous microstructure using a soft matter templating technique recently developed in the Principal Investigator?s laboratory. The approach will be based on the self-assembly of solid-stabilized emulsions that inherently have a tunable co-continuous microstructure, and subsequent chemical transformations of their different phases. The required processing conditions to convert these co-continuous soft materials into electrochemically functional composites will be systematically investigated, and the fundamental roles of the physicochemical and processing parameters in controlling their morphology and electrochemical performance will be addressed. If successful, the proposed program will institute a new approach to the design of composite electrodes that meet the design criteria for efficient storage and rapid delivery of electrochemical energy, made possible by their unique microstructure. Because the synthesis protocol is based on self-assembly in multi-phase mixtures, it allows such materials to be readily prepared in macroscopic dimensions with co-continuous morphology that is tunable at the microscopic level. Understanding the fundamental parameters that govern the processing of these soft material templates into co-continuous composites can also have a strong impact in a diverse array of other applications including catalysis, tissue engineering, separations, and fundamental studies of transport through porous media.